The Pistons didn’t let Tobias Harris walk by accident. They made a choice, and it points straight at the bigger plan in Detroit.
Losing Harris to the Spurs opened the door for more offensive responsibility to land on the shoulders of the young core, and that was the point. By moving on from Harris and avoiding ball-dominant additions this offseason, the Pistons have created more space for Ausar Thompson and Jalen Duren to grow into bigger roles. Next season could end up being the moment Detroit either decides it still needs another elite secondary scorer or learns those two can lighten Cade Cunningham’s load on their own.
That’s why Harris’ departure doesn’t have to be viewed as a mistake. Even while he was thriving for Detroit in the playoffs, the Pistons understood the larger issue: they needed a long-term partner for Cunningham, not a 34-year-old stopgap.
In that sense, the offseason replacement makes sense too. Detroit brought in John Collins, a forward whose game offers more supporting versatility than Harris in the same spot.
Collins won’t give the Pistons the same security blanket when possessions break down, but he should be better at cashing in on the openings teammates create.
The real swing factors are already in the building. Last season, Duren looked like he had taken a step into that secondary-star lane during the regular season.
Then the playoffs hit, his production slid back to role-player territory, and his offseason has been rocky with the Pistons. Even so, Detroit still has reason to believe he can become a steady creator who puts up 20 points per game, including in the playoffs.
He’s still extremely young, and the growth he’s already shown matters.
If Duren holds that level into the postseason, or if Thompson becomes more assertive on offense, Detroit’s decision to move on from Harris starts to look a lot smarter. Either development would help erase one of the weak spots from the Pistons’ 2025 playoff offense and give Cunningham a 23-year-old star-level sidekick.
Thompson might be the more intriguing bet because the upside is still so obvious. His athleticism and reaction speed already play huge on defense, but that same edge hasn’t fully shown up on offense. If he can get anywhere close to the kind of production his twin brother Amen is giving Houston - 18 points and 5 assists per game - the Pistons would have something special on both ends.
That’s the broader theme here: Detroit is thinking long term, even if it looks strange from the outside. A year after winning 60 games and coming close to the conference finals, the Pistons are still chasing answers about the offensive ceiling of their core. They know defensive pressure and Cunningham can carry them a long way, but they want more than that.
So if next season brings some regular-season turbulence or even a step back in the playoffs, that would still fit the plan. Harris was useful, even important, during his time in Detroit, but he was never the final answer.
He was a patch. Now the Pistons have moved on from the patch and put the burden where they want it: on development, on growth, and on figuring out who can really help Cunningham carry this thing forward.
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Last springs playoff run made the Pistons late-game problem easy to see: when possessions tightened, the offense leaned hard on Cade Cunningham and did not have enough shooting around him to make the floor feel open. Cunningham still gave Detroit a chance by drawing attention and making defenses react, but the spacing around him was often thin enough that the burden fell on one player to create nearly everything.
This offseason, the front office has tried to address that imbalance by adding more perimeter help, with Isaiah Joe, John Collins and Taurean Prince among the names brought in to give Cunningham better outlets in clutch situations. There is also the possibility of another shooter joining the mix, and the bigger question now is whether Detroit has finally built a late-game structure that lets Cunningham attack without having to carry the whole possession by himself. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons Missed Their Big Swing And Fans Know What Comes Next
The Pistons spent the offseason making a real push to land a marquee name, with Cade Cunningham involved in the recruiting effort and Detroit taking swings at several top free agents. Austin Reaves, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and Kyrie Irving were all part of the conversation, but the roster ended up unchanged in the way the front office had hoped to avoid, leaving the team to keep building around its young core.
So now the focus shifts back inside the building, where Detroit is counting on development more than splashy additions. John Collins is the notable newcomer and helps address a need in the frontcourt, but the bigger questions remain tied to Jalen Duren's restricted free agency and an extension for Ausar Thompson, the kind of business that can shape whether this next step feels like progress or just another reset. [Read more 🡒]